n. study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking)

n. loud and confused and empty talk

n. using language effectively to please or persuade

n. high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

Middle English rethorik, from Old French rethorique, from Latin rhētoricē, rhētorica, from Greek rhētorikē (tekhnē), rhetorical (art), feminine of rhētorikos, rhetorical, from rhētōr, rhetor; see rhetor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Examples

For instance, if you heard a man say, 'The _rhetoric_ of Cicero is not fitted to challenge much interest,' you might naturally understand it of the particular style and rhetorical colouring -- which was taxed with being florid; nay, Rhodian; nay, even Asiatic -- that characterizes that great orator's compositions; or, again, the context might so restrain the word as to _force_ it into meaning the particular system or theory of rhetoric addressed to

I love this bit from the Century: "The system of rhetoric which finally became established, and has never been superseded, though largely mutilated and misunderstood in medieval and modern times, is that founded upon the system of the Stoic philosophers by the practical rhetorician Hermagoras (about 60 b. c.)."